Declares that there should be road safety measures introduced at the junction of Spring Road and Station Road in Southampton, after a series of road traffic accidents that have occurred in recent months.
The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges Southampton City Council to review the safety at the Spring Road and Station Road junction and outline what actions it plans to undertake to ensure the safety of road and pedestrian users; and further that the council confirm the timeframe for implementing those changes.
And the petitioners remain, etc.—[Presented by Royston Smith, Official Report, 13 December 2016; Vol. 618, c. 762.]
[P001996]
Observations from the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Andrew Jones):
Local authorities are responsible for road safety on the local road network. Section 39 of The Road Traffic Act 1988 puts a statutory duty on the local authorities to deliver an appropriate road safety education service and for the provision of a safe local road network. This includes road construction, accident investigation and analysis, traffic calming, setting speed limits and facilities for pedestrians and cyclists. It is up to individual authorities to determine how they meet their “statutory duty”.
Traffic calming can be an effective way to reduce speed and improve road safety. It is for individual highway authorities to decide, in consultation with the local community, whether a particular road needs treatment and if so, the most suitable features to use. There are a wide range of traffic calming measures to choose from, including road humps, rumble devices (strips or areas), narrowings, build outs and chicanes. It would be inappropriate for the Government to intervene as this is a matter for the democratically accountable local authority.
The Department’s advice to highway authorities on the design and effectiveness of traffic calming measures is given in Local Transport Note 1/07: Traffic Calming. This brings together a summary of the research commissioned by DfT and other organisations, to provide advice on the use of traffic calming measures. It covers relevant legislation and the design, effectiveness and installation of measures. It is available from the Department’s website at: